Starting Jan 8th you can no longer receive subsidized pricing if you are not on a plan that's currently offered i.e. shared data or promo single line plans.

You can finance, pay retail or purchase retail used devices on older plans still. You can finance or choose subsidized on the current plans. The only workaround is they are granting 1 time upgrades per account on retired plans if the customer is thought to leave for not receiving the discounted phone.

There will also be $25 activation fees when you finance a new line or upgrade.

Recently, a newer of Android was announced, Android Lollipop 5.0. With this users are wondering if their devices if and when they will receive this update.

Obviously the first devices to get the update will be the Nexus Devices. Both 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 variants, Nexus 10, Nexus 5 and the Nexus 4.

Shortly after that, the Google Play devices will receive the update.

Other devices and when they will receive the update is below.

Samsung:

Samsung hasn't said much regarding the upcoming Android 5.0 update. However it is safe to say that the most recent Samsung devices are going to receive the update. (Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Alpha, and the Galaxy Note 3.) Other Samsung devices like the S4, are likely to receive the update but it will be pushed out later than the newer devices. Sadly the S3 is not expected to get the update.

LG:

The G3, G3 and possibly the G2 mini are expected to receive the update.

Motorola:

Both 1st and 2nd gen Moto X's will receive the update. Also the the Moto G, the Moto G 4Gand the Moto E

Other Motorola devices that will get Android Lollipop are the Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx and Droid Mini.

Sony:

Sony stated that it will be "bringing Android 5.0 Lollipop to the entire Xperia Z Series."

It's even put out a full list of handsets which are in line for Android Lollipop. Here they are.

Spoken from the words of numerous customer service reps/tech reps in tier one and tier 2 no one is going to lose their unlimited data UNLESS they changed to a NEW price plan. You can still fully upgrade at subsidized cost maintain your plan resign contracts ETC all with unlimited data listed on those contracts.

This seems noteworthy as so many around the forums have asked !

The reason behind this discovery was we've been waiting on LTE in the area for almost 2 years no dice bought a phone to tether with unlimited no dice. Wound up with VZW UDP plan in a hotspot. Now they may be throttling even though we managed to sneak our way back into a contract till 2016 which makes you exempt from throttling thank god !! Still we want to give USCC LTE a chance !

So we don't want to ditch the unlimited NO ONE ditch unlimited. Put the line into a six month seasonal suspend and confirmed 3 times with three different departments that if done once resume everything would remain in tact and that was a resounding yes as well as no one is going to lose their unlimited come the end of that "2 year contract" that some people signed some people didn't ?!

Beginning July 30, a trial in select markets will examine the impact of removing the option for subsidy transactions on Legacy, Belief, and Belief Plan Evolved (BPE) price plans. The goal is to drive Retail Installment pricing to increase upgrade adoption for customers wishing to remain on Legacy, Belief, and BPE plans, while also increasing migration to Shared Connect for existing customers intrigued by the Retail Installment pricing option.

Trial Markets:

Ashville, NC

Mendocino, CA

Bangor, ME

Dates:

July 30 – October 10

Details:

Eliminate Subsidy in Select Trial Markets

Customers who wish to stay on a Legacy, Belief, or BPE plan and want to upgrade their device will only have the option of selecting Retail Installment pricing or paying outright for the device.

Shared Connect plans will allow customers to take subsidy equipment or a customer can receive a discounted connection charge with a Retail Installment Contract

Associates can communicate the benefits of moving to our 4 lines for $140 pricing on Shared Connect (COE)

Customers who wish to purchase a device at a subsidized price will be required to migrate to a Shared Connect plan.

At this time, the top 60 plans that most customers are on, are included in the trial. We are in the process of adding all plans to the trial. See appendix for a list of eligible plans.

So official word has it that come the end of the month customers will now have the option of financing devices without switching to shared data or any current offering. So if you've been hesitating financing that ipad because you couldn't justify switching to share your wallet plans come the 30th that will no longer pose a problem.

Are you stuck on that same level of candy crush saga? Would you love to purchase a book from Google Play Books? Really want to try the paid version of an app, but can't convince yourself to committing more money on your smartphone?

I was just like you, but I discovered something great by good ol' Google itself. The name of the app is called Google Opinion Rewards.

It's very simple. After the installation, open the app. You will be asked a few questions that really have nothing to do with a smartphone. That's OK, Google just wants to make sure you aren't spamming them for free credits (which most people probably do anyway.) Answer the few questions upon first opening the app, and that's it! Sit back and profit! Any new surveys will appear as a notification in your notification bar.

In all seriousness, what will happen next is Google will (seeming randomly) send you a survey. I get one around once a month or so. Some surveys are worth $1.00 or more, some are as short as 1-3 questions with a payout of $.10. Yes, ten cents. But it adds up! I have collected about $15 in Google credits since I discovered this app. Download it now and start raking in the free credits!

What is changing?Enabling 4G LTE Roaming positions us to increase 4G LTE data coverage area for our subscribers. This will allow our prepaid and postpaid subscribers to continue to enjoy the 4G LTE data experience while outside the U.S. Cellular 4G LTE network coverage area and allow additional subscribers to enjoy the same experience while roaming on our 4G LTE network.

Why are we making this change?We currently have agreements in place with other carriers to provide 3G data coverage to our customers while they are roaming. The increased 4G LTE data coverage area will enhance our subscribers’ experience plus we’ll reduce overall roaming costs as customers migrate from 3G to 4G off-net and increase roaming revenues as foreign roamers will also have access to our 4G LTE network.

When is it changing?The capability for 4G LTE Roaming will be in place at the time of Release 3.0. We are preparing the roaming agreements with other carriers that will begin later in 2014. Customers will begin having 4G LTE roaming capabilities in additional areas as we continue to execute agreements with other carriers.

Well, it appears US Cellular has made another drastic change in the company once again. As the title says, ALL technicians and managers will be eliminated from the company. No more service centers will exist and Retail Wireless Consultants will be "trained" to do the troubleshooting that technicians did. Below is the memo:

As always, this is based off of "customer's wants and needs" and to better help them. Essentially, they are saying customers do not want to talk to multiple employees but rather deal with one during their entire visit. This is VERY true in most scenarios but to replace technicians and their knowledge with just RWC's and add to their duties that they must complete is not the solution in our opinion. Service Technicians have had much more hands on time with phones, much more in depth training, as well as the time to understand and work with these phones that RWC's have not.

Let's add to that and say a customer does need some technical troubleshooting and a RWC needs to spend quite some time on this and there are several other customers needing help. Now, the RWC cannot help these customers because he is tasked with another title of being a Technician now as well. There goes possible commission for them s well as longer wait times for other customers.

I do see some points on behalf of US Cellular as well as this will save substantial money we can only imagine. However, there are sure to be many more cons from our point of view. What do you think? Let's hear below!

After going to a Moto X from a Motorola Electrify M I lost my Smartactions. The handy app I used to silence my phone when I was at work or do other location based actions.

In my searches everything I would find was resource or battery hog intensive. Until along came this Llama app to my attention. I have been running it now for a few days and it has not put a ding on my battery life and when it learns your areas it will automatically do as you set it up to do! I can have my phone now automatically silence itself when I get to work! No more having to do it manually or use a play store widget to silence my phone, which by the way was acting up lately and would not restore volume so I ditched it.

Llama is by far a recommended app for anyone! You can use it to silence your device when you are in a classroom for example and when your not there it automatically restores for you your settings. You can have it set to the loudest settings when your at the nightclub or tavern or even vibrate instead.

I have not yet fully used Llama to the fullest potential but I look forward to exploring it more!

Let me also add it is a free app but they do accept donations. Another nice thing is that this app does not rely on GPS but actually uses the towers to help tell where it is and based on your trekking it to learn a location it has been spot on for me.

As far as battery use, it doesn't even show up on my battery stats and I have not seen any increased drain because of it and if I had to venture I would say battery seems better. But I am sure that is all psychological.

• Updated UI that gets out of your way and is centered on an extra large capture button

I used the app for a little bit and already I'm in love with it. I tried it on my Galaxy S4 and it works incredible. The UI is really easy to use and is very well designed. The picture quality is just as good if not better than the quality with the stock app.

I will probably start using this app as my main camera app from now on with all my devices.

So grab your android device and head over to the play store and give it a try. Link to the app --->Google Camera.

Don't you hate wondering how you're going to carry that extra battery around? Well Samsung has answered prayers by creating charging covers for it's newest device.

Samsung unveiled four charging covers for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5, which are now available for pre-order. The standard back plate, available in black and white, offers Qi wireless charging compatibility, for $29.99. There is an S-View Flip Cover version, also available in black and white. The cover is priced at $69.99.

Other accessories include a spare 2800mAh battery; however you can spend 50 bucks for a bundle that includes a spare battery, a charging case, and an extra wall charger.

Everyone loves a little bribing and that is just what US Cellular is doing to sway people away from their carriers. On Monday, US Cellular launched a new limited-time promotion offering up to $350 per line to cover the costs of switching carriers. The company also changed the name of its Shared Data plans to Shared Connect, and launched three new no-contract plans, dubbed Simple Connect, starting at $40 per month.

Simple Connect Smartphone Plans Include:

$50 a month for unlimited voice, messaging and data with 500MB of the data being high-speed. Data is slowed after the 500MB are used but remains unlimited.

$60 a month, unlimited voice, messaging and data with 2GB of the data being high-speed.

"These new offerings are designed to give customers freedom and flexibility to choose the right plan for their needs," Grant Leech, vice president of brand marketing for U.S. Cellular, said in a statement.

The only thing about this is US Cellular didn't mention when the promotion would end. And with everything, there's a catch; you have to sign on with U.S. Cellular's new Shared Connect plan and choose the Retail Installment Contract option to be eligible for the money. This is in response to what Sprint launched on Friday and Verizon has been offering since January.

If you thought that the bloatware was going to fall off the face of this earth then you were wrong but, wouldn't you hate if someone stole your phone? US Cellular has teamed up with Samsung to make your device more secure than before. The phone will now come preloaded with Find My Mobile and Reactivation Lock , FMM is an online service that can track and lock a stolen phone, wipe it clean, and alert the owner when a different SIM card is inserted. Reactivation Lock is a feature that detects abnormal attempts to reset a device to factory settings by prompting one to login even after a successful reset.

Well April has arrived and big things are happening at U.S. Cellular !

Here is a snippet of some of the upcoming offers come April 7th.

New equipment: The Netgear LG2200D. An LTE based enterprise router. This new product goes above and beyond the existing mobile hotspots and wireless modems currently offered allowing for up to thirty connections.

Purchasing Equipment

Customers will now have the option to purchase a phone or tablet in four ways:

Financing with zero percent interest over 24 months.

Subsidized Equipment. (Standard contractual obligations)

Pay with points.

And pay retail.

Financing extends across all phones and tablets currently offered. U.S. Cellullar in addition to allowing financing over 24 months will be paying up to 350 ETF per line with a maximum of two lines for individual accounts porting in and up to 10 350 ETF's for business accounts (with equipment trade in).

Additionally U.S. Cellular will now be supporting cellular boosters a major policy change but will require users to register the booster on an FCC based website.

It is also rumored U.S. Cellular may begin to offer boosters themselves.....more to come.

If you're like me and love apps but also like saving money then this app is for you. It's super easy to use and the benefits area great. AppSales has a website to go alongside their app so you can always check whether on your Android device or on a PC. A few updates back they added a much needed feature with their wish list which is Google sync to easily bring your list across devices. Wish list is a feature in which you can share an app from the Play Store to AppSales and it will watch for that app to go on sale for any bit. Other than that you can set filters for AppSales to search for apps on sale minimum discount or minimum downloads as well as set 33 different categories. Also don't forget to set the notifications to be reminded of sales. It's a completely free app and over the past year it's definitely saved me a few bucks. So if you like to save money and play with new apps go to the Play Store and download now.

Samsung is known for many products, mainly their phones but now they're joining companies like Sony, JVC, and Beats as they introduce a new line of headphones.

There are 3 models to choose from starting at 149.99-349.99. They will offer over the ear and in-ear headphones. The over the ear headphones that cost 349.99 will give you the choice to go wireless or wired.

A release date it unknown at the moment but with the new Galaxy S5, Gear2, and Fit right around the corner, one would assume it will launch close to them.

After announcing their new devices at the packed event on 24th Feb 2014, Samsung will release them all globally April 11th. You can currently preorder them at the website of many carrier and stores such as Radio Shack and Best Buy.

With months of speculation the iPhone in all variants has now been officially announced as having world phone capability. This is the first time since the HTC Merge U.S. Cellular has introduced a world phone to their lineup.

At last an official confirmation of the phones capability for international roaming utilizing GSM networks has been released. Thankfully it appears there is no requirement to reset your device with the new international sim card installed.

This is a huge boon to U.S. Cellular as the world increasingly becomes more globally interconnected. It’s high time U.S. Cellular stepped up to the plate and gave users the option to own a world phone as opposed to paying prices ranging from three dollars a day to simply have your phone on in say Canada on top of the $1.99 per minute surcharge. Even utilizing Google Voice, users are still at the mercy of Wi-Fi access as currently U.S. Cellular has confirmed they have zero data roaming agreements within Canada and the likes.

“All iPhone models sold by U.S. Cellular are capable of roaming on international GSM networks and do not need to be unlocked by U.S. Cellular for this purpose. To roam on an international GSM network, the customer should purchase a pre-paid SIM card (also known as a “SIM only plan”) in their destination country from a GSM service provider that supports iPhone.

Voice, text, and data capabilities are SIM card dependent. Customers should be directed to check with their international GSM service provider to determine which services are supported by the service provider’s SIM card. SIM Cards for North American GSM networks will not work in the iPhone models sold by U.S. Cellular; these SIM cards will not provide international roaming capability.”

This is an extremely beneficial move for U.S. Cellular as they struggle to maintain their edge in an increasingly global world, even if it took the heavy hand of Apple to reintroduce world phones to U.S. Cellular for 2014.

President Obama is a little behind in the mobile tech world. He owns and uses an Apple iPad, but his smartphone is a Blackberry. Blackberry's were decent phones a few years ago, but are soon becoming outdated in this day and age.

The White House and Obama are looking to upgrade soon. They are said to be looking at LG or Samsung smartphones. Blackberry is probably saddened hearing this. Samsung and LG however are probably fighting over Obama to use their phones. It could be excellent advertising for them too. I'm not sure why the White House decided not to go the Apple route, but I think it's cool they want to try something new.

Obama and the White House are saying the upgrade is "months away" but, I could definitely see Obama rocking a Galaxy S5 or a LG G3 later this year! What do you think? Think Samsung will win with the addition of Knox?

It was broke a while back, or maybe it was just a forum thread that I read here, but it was read about a WI-FI device small enough to carry in your pocket and provide you with your own private portable cloud like storage. This little device is handy but still requires additional cabling for charging the device but it allowed you to possible carry up to 192GB with the base 64GB unit expanded with a micro SD card...

Yes this is all in one! charges by plugging it into a USB port, no additional cable required. But this model is at this time not expandable. But seriously, 64GB of storage space, isn't that enough? At least for starters. Now if you Google this device and look at the images one would believe it is a micro SD card adapter with Wi-Fi abilities. I have yet to see in person one that opens to expose a micro SD card. Granted the one I did see in person I didn't get a whole lot of hands on time to explore but it very well could have had that slot.

You might be thinking, what do I need this for when there are devices like the Dual USB flash drives out there now. Well lets just say your out and about somewhere, do you really want to plug a USB flash drive into your device risking damaging the port if it is bumped in the wrong way? With this device you connect wireless and you don't even have to pull it out of your pocket or purse. Yes you would have to turn it on but no need to plug it in.

There are limits to this device as there is with any device. Only 4 hours of wireless connectivity per charge on this unit versus 8 hours with the SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive. The Flash drives are not expandable like the media drive. But the Overview to me is impressive:

The SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive instantly adds up to 64 GB of storage space to your iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Android™ device. Portable and easy to use, the drive gives you wireless mobile access to your movies, photos, music, and documents. You can wirelessly connect up to 8 devices and stream media to as many as 3 devices simultaneously--without the need for an Internet connection. The drive's battery recharges via USB and offers up to 4 hours of continuous streaming on a single charge

Now it mentions up to 4 hours of continuous streaming but it doesn't answer if that is continuous on time or can the charge be extended by turning the Wi-Fi off when not needed. If I were using one of these I wouldn't leave the Wi-Fi on all the time, especially out and about where I would want to hopefully conserve battery life.

With the ability to share files now with NFC this device also lets you do the same thing with friends and family by sharing via a wireless connection instead of the NFC connection, quite honestly, with the latest Android update 4.4.2 the wife and I can only transfer one file at a time using the NFC. Whereas with this wireless flash drive I could upload multiple files to it as she is then downloading the multiple files.

When connected to your computer using the USB port the speed of the transferring is only at the USB 2.0 rates. Size wise between the two wireless media devices from SanDisk they are both very portable and concealable.

SanDisk does also provide wonderful support for these devices and even has "How-To" tutorials on how to set it up, secure the wireless connection, stream and a basic getting started videos.

I can see this being in my inventory in the near future! As more and more devices are being made without the removable storage micro SD card this is a wonderful option to expand your storage abilities.

Here comes another game review. This time it's Aliens Vs. Predators: Evolution another MOGA compatible game and definitely a joy to play. You get to play both as you go through level after level of destruction as well as a few side missions all of which add up to give you hours of play time. Besides having controller support that honestly works really well out of the box I love (as always) that this game includes the wonderful addition of Google's Play Games achievements because honestly I'm a sucker for achievements. I've played this game a lot and while I haven't perfected it yet I've gotten more points than I know what to do with but some of the achievements include getting all the side missions completed on hard which I'm still working on but have a slew of other games that keep me sidetracked.

Nothing against this game as it's amazing but every game I have keeps me sidetracked from another as it's a vicious cycle but this game does indeed remain in that cycle and sometimes I play missions just to replay them. As you go through levels you are able to buy more abilities, weapons, armor pieces, gadgets, etc which help you in your endeavor of defeating the aliens or predators or humans.

The game was developed very nicely and has played well on my S2, S4 and Note 3 and while the graphics aren't mind-blowing they are nothing to complain about. I've even played a few times without a controller and while I'm not a fan I had to give it a go just to see how it is and it's not cumbersome at all and those whom don't use controllers will find this game a delight to play especially if you're a fan of the Aliens or Predators series or of AVP. I did get the game quite a while back while it was on sale but would have gladly paid full price as I've played it more than enough to make up for the price as I'm sure anyone else will. So go check it out in the Play Store and grab your copy and get to slaying away hours and the game and I hope you enjoy as much as I have.

MADFINGER Games does it again with the newest installment of Dead Trigger which not only holds true to the amazing work of the original but most certainly surpasses it and keep going as they continue to update Dead Trigger 2. I know I've reviewed the original and it was great but is meager and squandered by that of the second iteration so much so that the original has been deleted off all my devices and has been replaced by DT2 which like many of my favorites has achievements and controller support (MOGA Pro is what I use) but it also has the ability to create an account which will sync your save data so you're not left fretting if you change devices.

The big no-no of many people looking into apps is the IAP's (In App Purchases) but in this game it honestly doesn't hinder it although I think some of the wait times of weapon building could be faster I've never felt like I needed to buy anything although I have. I saw that there was a permanent double money boost which I believe was $2.99 and I had some spare credits on the Play Store so I went for it and it's helped but wasn't truly necessary to enjoy the game.

You begin first thing into a mission which is relatively easy and once completed you go to your "base" which is where everything outside of missions happens. This is where you eventually build up your guns, special weapons, health packs etc as well as your "tech" so that your medic, gunsmith, engineer and smuggler "workers" can be upgraded and therefore your gear can be upgraded to give you more of what you need to survive the apocalypse while you help out the "Resistance" to fight off the hordes and relinquish the undead's stronghold on each city.

There are several different mission types. Some are for the sake of the story line and there is no need to worry about running out of that as each update adds more story line but there's also a smaller plot line of going to each city and ridding the city of the walkers by doing a plethora of style of jobs each of which counts towards different achievements as does using different weapon types. There are currently 8 different missions that can be played:

"Operations" involve performing several tasks within a time frame.

"Escort" missions you find a survivor and help bring them back.

"Defend" is exactly as it sounds...you protect yourself until an extraction team comes to get you.

"Sentinel" missions place you in front of an entrance which you must keep the undead from entering and you get 2 freebies but you lose if a third enters the entrance before you can kill them.

"Supply - Run" is another obviously named mission where you must find several resources and bring them back to a central location one at a time.

"Seek & Destroy" is a mission where you must seek out blaring speakers going by a noise meter and destroy them.

"Assault" is a mission of absolute destruction and murder. You are given a goal of so many undead you must make dead once again and once you clear that number you're good to go.

"Power - Run" is a mission of finding fuel tanks and refilling a generator until it is filled again.

These missions can now be played out on several continents in several countries going city to city although as each city is cleared you get special perks and it's closed forever as far as I can tell. Although even after each city is cleared you can play some side missions in places including: the USA, Northern Africa, China and currently the all the players are working the way through the European Union.

The story line starts in the US and goes to Africa followed by China which is where the main plot currently has stopped until the next update which I cannot wait for but until then I'll keep plugging away at the cities building up my kill count stats and my hideout rankings. I have as I do most games play a few rounds without the controller to see how it would work for everyone and it's nice. The graphics are amazing and the gameplay is fluid. The AI that you have in some missions that are by your side could be a little smarter as they will just stand there getting hit and won't move very fast so make sure to keep an eye on them. Other than that I've been loving and playing my fingers to the absolute bone with this game more than any of the others on my list of current games I'm digging. So grab your device and make sure to have only about 500 MB's of space on your device and be ready for hours of fun.

US Cellular has finally joined the ranks of the big 4 in terms of Google Play! What this means is now it will be easier to blow your paycheck, err, invest in those must have games and apps from the Play Store.

Find your app/game and see the Price:

Click Purchase, click arrow next to the Price and then Click Payment Options:

Click Enable U.S. Cellular billing:

Prosper! Check your kids phones or they might be charging some things to your account next!

Here we go again! This time US Cellular is catering some specials to New customers or even existing customers that want to Add A Line. This is called Promo 1A and will run from 1/1-2/3. Here's the details:

$100 Smartphone Discount - ANY new line/added line will receive a $100 discount instantly on any smartphone device in store. If the device is less than $100, a $50 or $100 gift card will be processed and delivered 10-12 weeks automatically after purchase

Connect for less - can now add a hotspot, modem, or home phone for ONE penny and no activation fees. Also, can add a tablet without paying a downpayment.

Accessory Fitness Bundle Promotion - Armbands, Tracker, Scale, Pulse, Fitbit, and Syncburn. Must buy all of these to receive discount. Add a pair of headphones and receive 15% off both items. No price that I can find.

Prepaid Promotion - Out the Door Bundle for less than $100. Pay full price first month, $10 credit second month, pay $5 less the third month.

Engaging Customer with Rewards - Point changes for accessories and phones:

Customer Retention Programs & Offers - Agents can give enough points to become eligible for upgrade. You must be eligible for upgrade by June 30, 2014 without points to qualify for this though.

High Risk to Churn Early Upgrade - will receive mailer in mid to late January. Valid through 3/31/13. Targeted for out-of-contract but not eligible to upgrade and are 6 months into upgrade timer and flagged as high risk to churn. All out-of-contract and not eligible to upgrade auto pay customers that are 6 months into upgrade timer will get this automatically.

Web offers - Samsung Galaxy S4 - $100.01 from 1/1 to 1/26 and will be 1 penny after smartphone discount. iPhone 5C (32GB) - $149.99 and $49.99 after smartphone discount. Only valid for new customers or existing add-a-line.

SMB accounts can use $100 Smartphone Discount and Connect for Less Discount. They will keep the promotions of Waived Activation Fess and Instant Rebates. They are also eligible for $.01 Square Reader, $15 App Bonus and modems or hotspots for $.01.